Interview With Ed Cosens

The name Ed Cosens might be familiar to you due to the Sheffield guitarist being a member of Reverend and the Makers.

Cosens describes himself as a singer, songwriter, producer, part-time brewer, husband and father. He has just released his new album Fortunes Favour. I spoke to Ed about the new album and his home city of Sheffield.

Where was the video filmed for the single “If”?
We actually filmed the video by the River Don, the video is part of a 4 part series of films that portray the narrative of my new album, Fortunes Favour. We did the video with a Manchester based company called Flat Cat Films.

Is Sheffield an inspiring place to live in?
Absolutely. If you go right back to the Joe Cocker days right up to now with artists like Richard Hawley there has always been great music coming out of the city, there must be something in the water.

How has the last 12 months been for you?
Luckily the album was all done and recorded before lockdown. It was due to be released last year but we thought it was better to wait and release it in the spring of this year. There was a big tour last year that I had coming up with Reverend and the Makers but I kept myself busy by doing some acoustic sessions on Instagram. It was good because there was no pressure, no agenda so to speak.

What was it like playing at the Piece Hall in Halifax?
The building is an amazing place, Reverend and the Makers were supporting Embrace there 2 years ago, it was their home town gig and it was such a party vibe, it really was what live music is all about. I have missed playing live so much. Hopefully we can get back to that again this summer.

Are a lot of the smaller venues in Sheffield still in business?
Thankfully The Leadmill is still going but with the pandemic so many of the smaller venues have closed down such as The Broadwalk. My ambition though is to play Sheffield City Hall.

Who were your influences when you were growing up?
Richard Hawley was a big influence as were The Beatles, but then there was also the Britpop scene in the mid 90’s with groups like Oasis and all those types of acts. It sounds a bit of a cliche but for anyone who was growing up then and is now in a band, Oasis made a big impact on everyone.

Reverend and The Makers actually supported Oasis on their final tour, we got to play some big venues such as Wembley Stadium and I actually met Noel Gallagher a few times too.

Your new album is out now, can you get it on vinyl?
You certainly can, we have released a gatefold sleeve edition of the album. A Sheffield company called Ded Associates did the artwork for the album, there is also a cassette version too which we thought was something different.